Texas Tobacco Enforcement

Protecting our children from the dangers of tobacco is a vital task requiring constant awareness and continuous effort on the part of parents, state and local government officials, businesses and all Texans.

In 1997 the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 55, which requires the Comptroller to support the state’s law enforcement efforts to prevent children from purchasing tobacco products. In doing so, our office provides training resources to police departments to help them promote tobacco law compliance. We also provide tobacco vendors with training information and the signage they are required by law to prominently display. Those signs send a strong message: Texas law tolerates neither sellers nor buyers in transactions where underage consumers are concerned. Our office also helps minors educate themselves about tobacco laws and provides concerned citizens a place to blow the whistle on vendors that break the law.